Push is on for fed funds for ‘Cars Sharing Main’

Several factors are working in Buffalo’s favor in hopes of landing a $28 million federal grant to largely finance the next phase of the “Cars Sharing Main Street” initiative.

And the effort to receive the funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation will be aided by Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo. The pair will present the city’s case, noting the ongoing revitalization that is underway starting at the foot of Main Street.

Federal dollars are considered essential to keep the program going that will eventually see one lane of north and south vehicular traffic returned to downtown Buffalo’s Main Street spine between Goodell Street on the northern end and Perry Street at the south. The 700 block of Main Street between Goodell and Tupper streets is complete, and this year, work on the 600 block of Main Street through to portions of the 500 block of Main Street — at least through Mohawk Street — will be finished.

All of the phases, thus far, have been completed on time and under budget, another key factor as federal officials consider Buffalo’s bid.

The $28 million being sought covers $16 million to bring vehicular traffic to a stretch of lower Main Street from Exchange Street to Perry Street and $12 million for the remaining portion of Main Street’s 500 block and some of the 400 block through Court Street. If the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) funding is awarded additional work will start this fall.

“Lower Main Street is out of date,” Schumer said at a briefing Monday. “It should be the center rather than the desolate, out-of-date and under-utilized stretch it is.”

Schumer said a wave of new development around Canalside and lower Main Street should help Buffalo’s case with federal officials. Benderson Development has completed its $38 million makeover of the One Canalside Building while the Buffalo Sabres are racing to finish the $172.2 million HarborCenter project by fall. The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. has finished the East Canal Park and is working on bringing a series of replica canals and buildings to the former Memorial Auditorium site.

Schumer said bringing vehicular traffic back to lower Main Street could spur more than $100 million in new development. It may also help convince some entity to buy the largely vacant One Seneca Tower and redevelop the 38-story structure.

“The area will be that much more accessible,” Schumer said. “And, it will make it easier to solve that big problem we call the ‘HSBC Tower’.”

Federal officials hope to award the next round of TIGER grants this summer. Buffalo is one of an estimated 700 communities that are seeking some form of TIGER funding.

Schumer said Buffalo has enough of a track record to prove that the TIGER funds are not being misspent.

“The program fits Buffalo like a glove fits a hand,” Schumer said.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said combined the two “Cars Sharing Main Street” phases have a $35 million total price tag, but the city and state have pledged to fund the $7 million difference between the TIGER grant and the total project cost.